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Canadians fear losing privacy in the new digital world, poll finds

Canadians are as worried about losing their personal privacy as they are about future financial crises or climate change, a new poll finds.

By Susan DelacourtOttawa Bureau

Tues., Nov. 20, 2012

OTTAWA — Nearly three-quarters of Canadians are worried about losing their personal privacy in the modern, digital universe, according to a new poll.

In fact, Canadians’ fears about privacy rank right up with their worries about a global financial crisis, climate change and terrorism, says the poll, which was conducted as part of a larger study on privacy for Advertising Standards Canada (ASC.)

People’s privacy fears are being fuelled by the growth of technology and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, the research found.

In one of the focus-group sessions that accompanied this research study, a Toronto participant is quoted as saying: “Aspects of privacy have changed. Certain things are out there, and you have to accept that.”

The firm MacLaren McCann and McCann Truth Central carried out the research for ASC. In the poll, conducted online with 1,000 Canadian respondents, it asked people to identify which issues had them somewhat worried or worried a great deal.

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The top worry was a “further global financial crisis,” with 73 per cent saying this worried them to some extent. Next was “erosion of personal privacy,” at 72 per cent. Seventy-one per cent worried about climate change, 70 per cent are worried about increased levels of terrorism and nearly 60 per cent expressed worry about flu pandemics and nuclear-power and radiation leaks.

Canadians, for the most part, are selective about the kind of private information they share and also about whom they trust with their personal details, the poll also found.

They have high levels of trust in banks and credit-card companies to guard their private information, for instance, but less confidence in clothing companies or dating websites.

And Canadians also exhibit higher levels of trust in their banks than people in other countries — 81 per cent trusted banks with their information, compared to the 71 per cent global average on that same question in the worldwide survey.

Another significant difference emerged too between Canadians and citizens of other countries when it came to the privacy rights of government. Only 38 per cent of Canadians said the government had a total or some right to privacy, while 49 per cent of respondents worldwide would allow their governments those privacy rights.

As for the kind of information they are willing to share, Canadians seem most accepting about sharing their shopping data, with nearly 80 per cent saying they don’t mind this information being kept about them. They are also not that concerned, for the most part, about closed-circuit cameras or location-tracking technology, the poll found.

A full 73 per cent of respondents said they were aware that marketing companies could be making use of information about what websites people visit, for instance.

The researchers dubbed Canadians “savvy shoppers” for the realistic, but selective ways in which they wanted to guard their privacy. “The data tell us that Canadians have a very nuanced view toward sharing data online,” the researchers said in the summary of their findings.

The Canadian poll, conducted in September and October this year, has a margin of error within 3.1 percentage points. Overall, the study — including the polls conducted in other countries, has a margin of error within 2.2 percentage points.

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